The Swiss engineer appointed to resolve a dispute between India and Pakistan over Baglihar dam New Delhi is building in Kashmir concluded his visit to the project on Tuesday but held off announcing the outcome of his inquiry.
Raymond Lafitte spent three days at the Baglihar hydropower project, inspecting the site and holding talks with officials. "We will try to solve this issue," Lafitte, who heads a 13-member team of experts, said at the end of his trip.
He refused to give details, but officials accompanying him said he was likely to present his views in New Delhi this week, ahead of giving a report to the World Bank.
The $1 billion Baglihar project on the Chenab river--which flows from Indian Held Kashmir into Pakistan--is among a range of issues the neighbours have been discussing as part of new peace talks launched early last year.
Islamabad has objected to the design of the dam, saying it would affect flows into its territory and contravene the 1960 Indus Water Treaty brokered by the World Bank. Lafitte's findings would be binding under the treaty.